Efficient storage and transmission of digital fundus images with patient information using reversible watermarking technique and error control codes.

Handling of patient records is increasing overhead costs for most of the hospitals in this digital age. In most hospitals and health care centers, the patient text information and corresponding medical images are stored separately as different files. There is a possibility of mishandling the text file containing patient history. We are proposing a novel method for the compact storage and transmission of patient information with the medical images. In this technique, we are using a reversible watermarking technique to hide the patient information within the retinal fundus image. There is a possibility that these medical images, which carry patient information, can get corrupted by the noise during the storage or transmission. The safe recovery of patient information is important in this situation. So, to recover the maximum amount of text information in the noisy environment, the encrypted patient information is coded with error control coding (ECC) techniques. The performance of three types of ECC for various levels of salt & pepper (S & P) noise is tabulated for a specific example. The proposed system is more reliable even in a noisy environment and saves memory.